Karl Rove, it appears, is mortal after all. Since the Bush-Rove partnership surprised the American political world by conquering the Texas governorship in 1994, his name has evoked dread in every Democratic heart. Even safe Democratic seats seemed in danger when Mr Rove came to town.

"Just because you lose one ballgame, you don't lose your genius," the former House majority leader, Tom DeLay, argued yesterday. But Mr Rove has lost more than an election. His plan to build a permanent majority by solidifying the Republican base, and wooing social conservatives among Hispanics and black people, lies in ruins. Hispanics voted Democrat by a margin of almost three to one.

Stirring up the culture war with contests over abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage may have helped win a few seats, but the polarising of American politics ultimately alienated centrists, whose importance Mr Rove had scorned in his focus on mobilising hardliners.